I'm woken up by the overwhelming amount of daylight that comes through the clean glass of the foyer windows. The clock dings at seven in the morning and I'm disappointed that I'm not in my own shitty bed, sleeping off a hangover instead of trying to forget that now I know that there's an afterlife and it might be filled with giant killer eagles and crazy pharaohs. I rub my eyes and pull the soft blanket closer stubbornly, set on resisting the urge to break every pane of glass in this room.

"Sam!" The voice is pleasant and disturbingly out of character. I groan and sit up, combing my messy black hair down with my fingers.

"Huh?"

"Sam," Lara says again excitedly, rounding the couch with an armful of old books and loose leaf pages. "This is brilliant. Wake up and look at this."

I squint out the harsh marble-reflected sunlight and take a good look at her; my brain knows she probably didn't get a single second of sleep but I'm amazed by how well her body takes the harsh treatment, because she doesn't look even a little tired. Still tall, dark and gorgeous. Jealousy tickles my gut.

She drops the stack of information on the long coffee table in front of me and spreads it out, picking at bookmarks and dog eared sheets of yellowed parchment to display. Almost all of it is in languages I don't even recognize.

I'm too tired, and too confused to even say a thing.

Lara looks at me expectantly, biting her bottom lip, then back down at her handiwork before making a realized sound in her throat. "Oh, you probably can't make heads or tails of any of this."

"Nope," I yawn, slumping forward.

She hands me a white mug with something in it; I drank so much tea yesterday that the thought of it aches.

"Um, do you have any…?"

"Coffee? That is coffee." She shuffles the papers around and circles a couple of lines of text in a paragraph written in Farsi.

"Oh." I sip it slowly. Coffee, with cream and sugar. "How did you…?"

"Can't see why you Americans love your coffee so much. Me, I can't stand the stuff. Zip drinks it, too. Too much of it, if you ask me." Alright, I can sort of tell she's been awake for a while now; she's much more talkative than yesterday.

"Right, so," I clear my throat and give my eyes a good rub. "What's all this?"

"It's your family tree." She puts her hands on her hips and gives me a smile.

I look at her blankly again and she sighs. "I collecting some information on your lineage to see if your bloodline could be traced back to Yamatai."

"But…Yamatai isn't real." She gives me a hard glare and I fluster trying to correct myself. "I-I mean, to most of the world it isn't real."

"Yes," she shakes her head cryptically. "So I had to narrow it down to area in or around the Dragon's Triangle."

"What did you find?"

"Something absolutely fascinating." Her eyes glimmered at me with curiosity. My stomach is struck with nervous butterflies. "Samantha Nishimura, your blood was in Okinawa centuries ago, and part of your family was struck from the histories during that time. Okinawa is the closest established city to the Dragon's Triangle, during the era where the island of Yamatai was said to disappear beneath the storms."

She looked quite pleased with herself. "You wouldn't believe how difficult it is the trace migrations feudally. I had to exercise the majority of my presidential passes in the London libraries just to get passed the 1400s wall." Her hand grips the nape of her neck as she rolls it to the side, stretching. "You have some very royal ties, Sam. I'm impressed."

I can't get over the lively sparkle in her features; I've never seen anyone who could even rival her beauty, especially like this. I felt like I was looking at the fucking sun. My face heats up under her gaze.

"S-So, the stories were true? I'm related to some kind of superhero queen?"

"I wouldn't call her a superhero." Her face immediately darkens. "She sacrificed young girls to pass her soul from vessel to vessel, but yes. You very well could be."

"Oh, um. My grandmother must have left that part out," I mumble, itching the back of my ear awkwardly. She hums to herself and collects the assortment of research carefully.

"A curiosity, nothing more. I thought perhaps you'd be interested to know." I just barely catch the tinge of disappointment in her tone; was she…?

"Wait," I mutter. "Show me?"

She blinks at me, and smiles slowly.

I listen, even though most of what she says goes right over my head. I savor the way her lips wrap around the syllables of a variety of languages, how she gesticulates her long arms and fingers in emphasis, the warm, salty edge of her tone. My 6th uncle the swordsmith, my twenty second cousin, who conquered empires in the times of dynasties, my long distant aunt, who gave born to eighteen girls and no boys. I should be concerned that my entire family history could be collected from the London libraries, but instead I'm enthralled in her storytelling, her voice, her curiosity, her beauty. She lifts her left arm in a gesture and I see those scars again, scattered and content with their homes.

Her tale is interrupted when Zip leans against the back of the couch and waves a glass of something in front of her. "Hey, you can't just leave this out, Lara. You'll get sick again."

She rolls her eyes exasperatedly and takes it from him. "Yes mum," she mocks, downing the light orange concoction in one go.

"You know, if you want eggs I can cook 'em for you first."

"Where's the character in that?" she muses, setting the glass down away from the papers and wiping her lips delicately. "Can't be bothered."

He rounds the table and looks down at the spread with a curious expression. "Is this the stuff Vymes sent over?"

"Fuck Vymes," she says far too eloquently. I have to look away when the word 'fuck' in that accent settles heavily in my lap. "I'm a step from sealing the Lusitania's location away. I've a bad feeling about all of that; we both know that man's disgusting reputation. He could do with a slap."

"Easy, Lara," he says nervously. "You know what that guy could do to us. He's dangerous-"

"Zip, I single-handedly overwhelmed the Yakuza when Takamoto wouldn't concede to my demands." She laces her digits in her bangs. "I'm dangerous."

"Right," he shrugs defeatedly and gestures at the mess. "And all this? Side project?"

"Well, Zip, it turns out that you are in the presence of royalty."

"No shit," he laughs.

"Not me, you arse," she glowers fakely and waves her arm to me in a presentational way. "Samantha here is a direct descendant to the Queen of Yamatai. Himiko, the Sun Queen."

His snarky smile falls instantly. "What?" His tone lowers to a near whisper as he addresses her directly. "She knows about Yamatai?"

"Yes," she breathes. "Yes, she does. It's alright."

He straightens himself and clears his throat. "Okay, if you say so. Do you need anything before I get to work?"

"The second stone of the Pantheon frieze and the Sword of Perseus. Chop, chop," she says straight faced, snapping her fingers and giving him a faux-impatient gaze. He rolls his eyes at her.

"Yeah, yeah. Well, you know where I'll be if you need me."

"Cheers," she says coolly. He gives us a backwards wave and disappears around the corner.

"Really?" I grimace, glaring at the empty glass. "Raw eggs?"

"Protein," she states simply.

"Cooked eggs have protein too," I tease, beside myself. I'm nervous of how she'd react, but she gives me a fox-like grin and murmurs, "I only do it now because the first time he saw me try it he nearly ate backwards."

I nearly spit all over myself; I was definitely not prepared for a joke to come out of her during this century. She chuckles, covering her mouth as I let out a laugh that echoes against the hard marble room.

She tosses her head back and unwraps her loose plait, shaking out her waist-long hair before containing it in a low hanging tie. I immediately want to tangle my fingers in it.

"Did you want something to eat?" She asks gently, standing up from the leather pillows. I yawn and join her, dropping the blanket messily.

"I could honestly go for something sugary and full of calories," I chuckle. "None of that raw protein nonsense please."

She bites her bottom lip and gives me a matter-of-fact smile. "Oh, I have the perfect solution." She saunters confidently into the hallway and I follow eagerly, warmed by our exchange. She feels like a friend already, like someone I need in my life, and that's honestly a little terrifying. "Have you ever had Jaffa Cakes?"

I watch the windows as they glimmer with the light of day and notice that some of them have been pushed open, filling the walk with the scent of fresh rain.

The hallway explodes in front of us.

A/N: If you haven't noticed I hardcore ship Lara/ Zip bromance. No regrets~ As always, reviews make my day :)